Cooling device for drinking fountains



April 26, 1927.

.H. C. RIDLER COOLING DEVICE FOR DRINKING FOUNTAINS Original Filed Aug. 12. 1922 2 sheet -Sheet 1 lfy 111: Ail I V W Reissued Apr. 26,1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BARRY C. RIDLER, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

COOLING DEVICE r03 DRINKING roun'mms.

Original No. 1,539,867, dated .Tu ne 2, 1925, Serial No. 581,543, fi led August 12, 1922. Application for reissue filed November 26, 1926. Serial No. 150,994.

lVIy invention relates to drinking fountainsof the type employing ice boxes or refrigerators for the cooling of the water, and generally stated, the invention consists of the novel construction and combinations and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

Itis a known fact that every time a person drinks from a bubbling fountain four or five times as much ice'cold water is discharged as waste as is consumed by the drinker. This waste of cold water represents a very largewaste of temperature units and causes a consumption of ice far beyond the maximum amount that would be required if such waste could be eliminated.

My invention eliminates this waste of temperature units by aprovision whereby the cold waste water running from the bubbling fountain iscaught and contined, and the drinking water to'bc cooled is given its primary reduction in temperature by the cold waste water thus intercepted.

More specifically described, I provide. in connection with the customary ice box or primary refrigerator, a secondary refrigerator intowhich the waste cold water from the fountain'is' caused to flow. The pipe or tube that delivers the drinking water to the fountain head is passed first through the secondary refrigerator or waste cold water receptacle and then is passed through the main refrigerator or ice box.

One commercial embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section'taken through the complete device approximately on the line 11 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken ap proximately 011 the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;.and

Fig. 3 is a vertical section showing/[heinvention incorporated in a. scheme for supplying a plurality of fountains through a common cooling device.

The numeral 3 indicates direct angular framework which supports insulated rectangular casing .4; provided with insulated tover 5 and divided into upper and lower refrigerator compartments 6 and 7. The compartment 6 s the primary or main or icecompartment adapted to contain a cake period of time. that'the surplus ice water flowing from the of ice yand a predetermined amount of ice I water y The bubbling fountain comprises a tubular stem 8 with a bowl 9 and nozzle 10 of the usual or any suitable construction, The stem 8 is shown as'supported from the casing 4 by brackets 11, and at its lower end is connected by a pipe 12 to ably bent horizontally back and forth to j form a plurality of U-shaped folds. The

compartment 7 is provided with upright baffle plates or flanges15 interposed between the U-shaped folds or said water pipe.

From the compartment 7 the water pipe 14 is extended upward into the primary or main ice compartment 6, and below the water level thereof is bent back and forth to give a long pipe section to be submerged in ice water and which incidentally will serve to support the ice. Said pipe .14 is then extended upward and out-' ward through one wall of the casing 4,, thence into the upper portion of the tubular stem 8 and at its upper end is attached to the nozzle 10. Adjacent to the fountain, the water pipe 14 is provided with the customary. normally closed hand-operated valve'16. Said water pipe 141. is also shown as provided with a normally open-cut-otf valve 17 just outside the place where it en-- ters. the compartment 7. The numeral '18. indicates an overflow pipe that extends from the water level of compartment 7 With the above arrangement, it is evident that the waste ice water that runs from the fountain head each time a person drinks therefrom-will be directed into the compartment 7 and there contained for a certain Also it is important to note main ice compartment 6 through tube 13 will be directed into said compartment 7.

These two "sources 'of cold water, usually wasted, are here caught and caged and caused to very greatly reduce the temperature of the drinking water as it passesa. relatively small amount of ice will be consumed in further reducing its temperature to the ultimate low temperature more or less closely approximately that of ice water.

In actual practice, I have found that, by

this improved system of 'watercooling a very remarkable saving in the use of ice in connection with drinking fountains may be effected.

It will, of course, he understood that the drawings of this application/ illustrate but one of the many possible forms or arrangement that may be made within the scope of my invention.

It may be further noted that the flow of the surplus cold water from the ice compartment 6 and of thewaste cold water from the fountain is downward and toward the overflow pipe 18 while the flow of the drinkingwater from the 'pipe 14 is in a. reverse direction, to wit: upward through the two compartments 6 and 7 toward the fountain head. The extent of the secondary cooling compartment 7 ma be madesuch that under ordinary conditions the exhaust water from the compartment 7 will be approximately at the temperature of the incoming drinking .water, but this, of course, may be varied at will. In any event, the cooling of the drinking water is progressively accomplished as it flows toward the main ice compartment and is further reduced in flowing through the ice compartment approximately to the temperature of the ice water. Ob viously, all the cooling that is done in. the secondary compartment effects the saving of the ice in the main compartment.

In the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 3,- I have shown a scheme especially adapted for use in office buildings, hotels, and other public'huildings where a plurality of fountains are supplied with water cooledfrom a relatively large common cooler or refrigerator. The cooler or refrigerator here em.- ployed may be the same as that illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 except that it will be larger,

hence, the corresponding parts thereof are I indicated by the .same characters that are employed in Figs. 1 andf2.

In this modified construction, several different types of bubbling fountains are indicated as entireties by the characters A, B, and C. In this arrangement the, cold water overflow from the cold water wastepipes from the several fountains are connected by branch pipes D to a common upright cold water waste pipe E, the lower end of which is connected to a secondary cooling com partment 7 of the refrigerator in substantially the same manner that the pipe 12 is connected thereto in Figs. 1 and 2. drinking water supply pipe 14 is extended through the compartments 7 and 6 of the refrigerator in the same manner as previously described, but is provided with a long upright extension 14 that is extended concentrically through the common upright cold water return pipe E and has branch pipes 14", that extend through the branch cold water pipes D to the nozzles of the respective fountains.

In this arrangement the cold waste water from the several fountains, as it runs through the main pipe E and its branches, has a cooling effect on the drinking water and prevents the temperature thereof from rising while it is being delivered from the refrigeratorjto the fountains. This is so whether or not the pipe E is insulated. For further economys sake *in the use of ice, said pipe -E*would preferably be provided with a surrounding insulation. This insu lation may be provided in difierent ways. In the arrangement illustrated, the pipe system is' embedded in the concrete of the building. Such construction would be prac tical only when the drinking water system is installed at the time the building is erected. When installed after the building has been erected, the pipe E would be extended through the floors adjacent a wall or column, and'in that case would be pro vided with a covering of asbestos or other suitable insulating material. As is obvious, the metal of the pipe 14 acts as a heat-trans ferring medium between the waste water conduit and the drinking water conduit.

WVhat I claim is I 1. The combination with a refrigerator equipped with a long waste water conduit, of a drinking fountain having an overflow conduit connected to the receiving end of said waster water conduit, a long drinking water conduit following said long waste water conduit progressively from the discharge toward thereceiving portion of-the latter, the discharge end of said drinking water conduit being connected to the nozzle of said drinking fountain, there being a heat transferring medium between said two con duits whereby the drinking water and the waste water are caused -to follow substantially the same course while flowing in reverse directions.

2. The combination with a drinking noz- 'zle, of primary and secondary refrigerating compartments, both constructed to contain low temperature Water, said two compartments each having its own overflow assage opening therefrom at a point above lts bottom and below its top, said primary compartment being located above said secondary The compartment and the overflow passage of said primary compartment being connected to discharge into said secondary 'comp'artment, and a drinking water supply conduit connected to said drinking nozzle and entendcd through water contained in sald primary and secondary compartments, said drinking water supply conduit being arranged for delivery of drinking water to said nozzle, by a flow in a direction reverse to the direction of flow of the cold waste water through said secondary compartment.

3. The combination with a drinking fountain, of primary and secondary refrigerat-- ing compartments both constructed to contain low temperature waterQaud a drinking water supply conduit extended through said primary and secoudary compartments and having portions that are subi'nerged m the water contained in the said two refrigerating compartn'ients, the said two refrigerating compartments being connected an overflow pipe that leads from said primary compartment at apoint above the bottom thereof, the overflow pipe just noted being located near one end of said secondary compartment and said compartment near its other end having a discharge overflow pipe, the said drinking water supply pipe being arranged for delivery of drinking water to said fountain by a flow in a direction reverse to the flow of the cold waste water through said secondary compartment.

4. The combination with a drinking fountain, of primary and secondary refrigcrating compartments both constructed to contain low temperature water, a drinking water supply conduit extended through said primary and secondary compartments and having portions that are submerged in the water contained in the said two refrigerating compartments, the said two refrigerating compartments being connected by an overflow pipe that leads from said primary compartment at a point above the bottom thereof, and a waste cold water conduit extending from said fountain and arranged to cause the waste cold water to flow,through said secondary compartment.

5. The structure definedin claim 3 in further combination with a waste cold water conduit extending from said fountain and arranged to cause the waste cold water to flow through said secondary compartment.

6. The combination with a refrigerator, of a plurality of drinking fountains, a cold water return pipe having branches connecting the same to the overflows of the several ture.

fountains, and a, drinking water supply pipe extended through said refrigerator and through said common cold ater return pipe and having branches that extend through the branches of said common return pipe and connected to several fountains.

7. The structure dcfinedin claim 6 in which said refrigerator has primary and secondary refrigerating compartments and said common return pipe is connected to said secoud refrigerating .compartmen't, which latter has an overflow pipe.

8. The combination with a drinking nozzle, of primary and secondary refrigerating con'ipartments, both constructed to contain low temperature water, said two COI'I'IPHI'tments each having its overflow passage opening therefrom at a point above its bottom and below its top, said primary compartment being located above said secondary compartment and the overflow passage of said primary compartment being connected to discharge into said secondary compartmcnt, a drinking water supply conduit connected to said drinking nozzle and extended through watercontained in said primary and secondary compartments, and a waste water drain pipe extending from said nozzle and delivering into said lower or secondary compartment.

9. The combination with a refrigerator equipped with a tortuous'waste water conduit, of a drinking fountain having an overflow conduit, connected to the receiving end of said waste water conduit, and a tortuous drinking water conduit following said tortuous waste water conduit progressively from the discharge toward the receiving portion of the latter, the discharge end of said drinking water conduit being extended and connected to the nozzle of said drinking fountain, there being a heat-transferring medium between said two conduits whereby the drinking water and waste water are caused to follow the same course while flowing in reverse directions.

10. The combination with a refrigerator,

of-a plurality of drinking fountains, a cold water return pipe, having branches connected to the overflows of the several fountains, a drinking water supply pipe passing through said refrigerator and arranged in heat exchanging relation with said cold water rcturn pipe,-and a covering medium enclosing said return pipe and said supply pipe. In testimony whereof I aflix my signa- HARRY c. RIDLER. 

